Page:Keats - Poetical Works, DeWolfe, 1884.djvu/273

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Forever and forever! O what a mad endeavor Worketh He, Who to thy sacred and ennobled hearse Would offer a burnt sacrifice of verse And melody. How heaven-ward thou soundest! Live Temple of sweet noise, And Discord unconfoundest, Giving Delight new joys, And Pleasure nobler pinions; O where are thy dominions?

Lend thine ear To a young Delian oath—aye, by thy soul, By all that from thy mortal lips did roll, And by the kernel of thy earthly love, Beauty in things on earth and things above. I swear! When every childish fashion Has vanished from my rhyme, Will I, gray gone in passion, Leave to an after-time, Hymning and Harmony Of thee and of thy works, and of thy life; But vain is now the burning and the strife; Pangs are in vain, until I grow high-rife With old Philosophy, And wed with glimpses of futurity.

For many years my offerings must be hush'd; When I do speak, I'll think upon this hour,